Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels Team India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja failed to do their best on Day 1 of the first Test against England. Karthik added that while the spin trio enjoyed success, the pitch helped the team a lot, along with a few English batters who got out very cheaply. Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar claimed eight wickets combined out of the 10 English wickets as well.

Speaking to Cricbuzz after stumps on Day 1, Karthik stated: “To be honest, all three didn’t bowl at their best. I don’t think it was their best day. It was more of England giving away a few wickets, and the pitch in itself being hard enough to bat. It wasn’t one that you couldn’t bat on, but it wasn’t something that was too simple to bat on as well, quite challenging for team that is touring.”

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“Out of the three, if I had to pick, Axar Patel was very menacing,” Karthik continued. “In the short time, he produced balls that batters would find really hard to play. If you had a bad defence, you could get away with the way Ashwin and Jadeja bowled to a decent extent, but if you’re playing Axar Patel wrong, chances are you will get out.”

However, England were bundled out for 246 runs after electing to bat first. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three wickets each, while Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah shared two wickets each. Meanwhile, Ben Stokes played a lone knock for England, scoring 70 runs off 88 balls.

“That is the ball of the day because it came in such an innocuous way, and to an extent, against the run of play, you don’t realize how good a ball is. That was one of those that if a batsman had stood in the crease, he would have been opened up completely and gotten beaten because there is no chance if somebody bowls around the wicket into the middle and leg and the ball seams away hit the middle and off, it is impossible to play. Because he stepped out and went outside the line, the ball actually didn’t get enough credit. It’s not something that Jasprit Bumrah could’ve planned. It hit one of those cracks and moved,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.